LONGMONT -- Police arrested a Longmont man Friday night on suspicion of theft by receiving after their investigation of a burglary in which $30,000 to $40,000 worth of items were reported stolen from a rental storage unit earlier this month.

Eric D. Dirks, 42, was taken into custody at about 9 p.m. as officers served a search warrant at his home on the 00 block of East Fifth Avenue. Earlier Friday, Detective Stephen Schulz had gotten a warrant for Dirks' arrest based on information police had gathered during their investigation of the storage-unit burglary.

On Friday afternoon, Longmont police surveillance units watching Dirks' home observed a man later identified as Dirks putting an item wrapped in a blanket inside a visitor's minivan. That later turned out to be a remote-controlled helicopter that's believed to be one of the items stolen from the storage unit.

Officers also found other items in the visitor's vehicle -- including another remote-controlled helicopter, two red tote bins and a brown cardboard box containing metal pots and pans -- that the burglary victim identified as having been taken from the storage unit, according to Schulz's affidavit for Dirks' arrest warrant.

The burglary of the unit at A1 Personal Storage, 822 S. Sherman St., happened sometime between March 3 and March 5 and was discovered by the victim, a Longmont resident, when he went to pick up his golf clubs there, according to officer John Garcia.

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Garcia said the victim reported that the items stolen included remote-control cars, trucks, planes, and helicopters and rockets, as well as spare parts and engines for those devices. Also taken were golf clubs and other recreational, exercise and sports equipment , along with such tools as a belt sander, a grinder, a router, tabletop drill presses and a jigsaw.

Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said on Saturday that the search of Dirks' property turned up many of the items believed to have been stolen in the burglary.

"We left there with quite a truckload," Satur said, including a 6- to 8-foot-tall rocket and remote-controlled airplanes.

The planes, trains and automobiles taken in the burglary aren't toys, Satur said. "These are the more serious remote-controlled items."

Schulz's affidavit for the arrest warrant didn't accuse Dirks of being the burglar. But it indicates that the police investigation had identified Dirks as allegedly possessing and selling at least some of the items stolen in the burglary.

The man who police surveillance units observed getting the blanket-wrapped remote-controlled helicopter from Dirks on Friday afternoon -- identified in Schulz's affidavit as John Emarine, 38 -- was arrested on suspicion of driving with a revoked license, police said.

Schulz's affidavit said Emarine told police that he didn't pay money for the helicopter -- listed on the burglary victim's report as being worth $3,000 -- but that he was supposed to find a buyer and then would be given a cut of the money from Dirks once it was sold.

The surveillance units watching Dirks' house on Friday afternoon included officers from Longmont Police Department's Special Enforcement Unit and its Gang/Crime Suppression Unit. A police SWAT unit served the arrest and search warrants on Dirks on Friday night, surrounding his house and calling him outside, Satur said.

Satur said Dirks complied and came out without incident, was first transported to the police department and later taken to the Boulder County Jail.

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